Polish bus driver jailed over death of teenage girl

A Polish bus driver drove for 500 metres on the wrong side of a main road causing a fatal accident in which a teenage girl was killed.

Robert Botur was driving for first time unsupervised in England since he had come from Poland for a 'better life'.

Botur was jailed for two years after he admitted causing the death of 17 year old college student Anita Quartly by dangerous driving.

Exeter Crown Court heard that Botur was seen by passengers and a following car driving along the A377 one dark night in January on the wrong side of the road - but still he denied he was at fault".

A car coming round a bend and the 30 seater bus he was driving tried to take evasive action but the bus went through a hedge and rolled 15 feet down an embankment.

Exeter College student Anita - described by her family as a "special little girl" and a "star" - suffered skull fractures and cuts as well as brain damage after being partially thrown through a bus window, and died at the scene on the A377 near Lapford, Devon.

Yesterday the judge admitted the jail term he passed - Botur will be eligible for parole after just one year - would be regarded by the family of Anita the youngest of four children - as "wholly inadequate and derisory".

Mr Richard Crabb, prosecuting, said Botur, who now lives in Tipton, West Midlands, has held the equivalent of a Public Service Vehicle licence in Poland since 1991.

He answered an advert for professional drivers in the UK and got a job at Turners Tours in Chulmleigh, Devon, last December.

Mr Crabb said: "He underwent a driving assessment and was then sent out with other drivers to familiarise themselves with routes and other vehicles."

Four days after a refresher course and driving under supervision Botur, 35, went out on his own for the first time on January 10th on route 374 picking up fare paying passengers from Exeter to Chulmleigh at 4.30pm.

He drove out of an unclassified road onto the main A377 road but drove on the wrong side of the double white lines in the direction of oncoming traffic.

Mr Crabb said: "It was clear that Botur was driving on the wrong side of the road." One passenger told his wife he wondered of they were driving through a one way system.

A car driver behind the bus said it was being driven perfectly at 35 to 40mph - but on the right hand side.

Mr Crabb said 'an impact was inevitable' and a car driven by Nicola Rice collided with the bus.

"By then Botur had been driving on the wrong side of the road for 500 metres," said the Crown.

He said both vehicles took avoiding action but collided and the bus plunged down the embankment, sadly killing Miss Quartly.

Botur was seen crouching down with his head in his hand saying "help these people". In police interview Botur said he had come to England for "a better life".

He had never had a serious crash in 12 years and was sending half his wages back to Poland to his wife and daughter.

He told police he was driving at 25-30mph but had been distracted by a buzzing noise.

He said he was blinded by the car headlights, braked hard but the bus crashed.

"He could not accept that he was driving on the wrong side of the road," said Mr Crabb.

But Botur went on: "I am really terribly sorry. I have to live with this until the end of my life. It will be in me memory."

Mr Simon Morgan, defending, said it was a tragic error by a foreign national driving in a foreign country.

He said: "Drivers from abroad and when we are abroad, we make an error of judgement and until it is pointed out it remains uncorrected." He said no one pointed out the error although as a professional driver he should have been aware of it.

Mr Morgan said: "It was a genuine error of judgement - he drove perfectly other than on the wrong side of the road." He Botur, now working as a bus valet, suffered from flashblacks and never wanted to drive again.

He said the 'sad irony' was that Botur, a respectable and respectful man, was trying to improve his home circumstances by sending money back to Poland.

"There are no winners in cases such as these. Two families left devastated by events." Judge John Neligan said Botur was not driving excessively, had not been drinking - and he had not been using two mobile phones he had - and had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

"You don't accept that you were on the wrong side of the road, but this accident would not have happened had you not been on the wrong side for some considerable distance," said the judge.

"I have no doubt at all that the Quartly family will regard the sentence was wholly inadequate and they may think derisory." He jailed him for two years and banned him from driving for four years and said he must take an extended driving test if he wanted to drive again in Britain.

Anita's parents Mark and Dawn and 12 other family members plus some of her college friends sat next to the dock and sobbed.

Afterwards Anita's parents said: "We are disgusted with the leniency of this sentence. How can the taking of our daughter's life equate to this inadequately short term of imprisonment?

"We consider that there needs to be more stringent legislation to regulate and enforce the required standards of driving and especially the drivers of public service vehicles within the UK. We do not understand how this man was allowed to drive in this country and not comply with our regulations.

"He knows he will eventually return to his family. Our family has been irreversibly torn apart."